Monday, July 29, 2013

In a press release this morning, the Washington National Cathedral announced the appointment of conductor Stanley J. Thurston as
Artist in Residence. His appointment will be effective September 1.
Thurston is highly regarded in the D. C. area and nationally as an
outstanding conductor, pianist and arranger.

The cathedral's announcement was a part of its announcing of the
2013-14 concert series highlighting both the Cathedral Choirs under the
direction of Canon Michael McCarthy and The Heritage Signature Chorale, which was founded and is conduced by Thurston.

Thurston has appeared as conductor on NBC’s Today Show and at such
venues as Carnegie Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts. He has performed with notable artists including Denyce
Graves, Kathleen Battle, the Canadian Brass, and Wynton Marsalis. He was
commissioned to compose a musical tribute for the 2009 Presidential
Inaugural Prayer Service at the Cathedral, which he conducted during the
service with President Barack Obama.

Cosmas W. K. Mereku of The University of Education, Winneba, Ghana,writes in the Guest Book at AfriClassical.com on Sunday, July 28, 2013:

You
have a fantastic website. What a great resource to teachers of
musical composition like us who are trying our best to sustain
classicism in our countries as well as on the continent where
majority of our elite musicians (ethnomusicologists, music educators,
traditional music performers, etc., alike) think classical music is
foreign (a culture that was forced on the continent -Eurocentricism).
Now my students will know how both Africans as well as those in the
diaspora of African descend had contributed to this wonderful genre
we aspire to nurture in Africa. After all, the melodic, harmonic and
percussive qualities of our instruments make them a perfect vehicle
for the expression of the multi-musicality African composers are
striving to achieve in today¿s multi-lingual, multi-cultural and
multi-interdisciplinary world of globalization.

Jacques
Brel (1929-1978) Jacques
Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris -If
We Only Have Love
-English
Lyrics: Mort Shuman & Eric Blau

Pianist
Phoenix Park-Kim, Soprano Jumi Kim

Joopoong
Kim (b. 1958) Candlelight
for Soprano
(World Premiere)

Program
Note:

This piece was composed to
commemorate and honor the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose
vision and leadership helped our society to advance towards greater
civil equality for all. This piece attempts to capture the fragility
of a candle’s flame, vulnerable to being extinguished by the
slightest of winds. Yet with consistent care and protection, even
this fragile flame can light the way in the darkest of times. Dr.
King was that care and protection, kindling the fragile flame of the
Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. That flame grew stronger and
brighter, and ultimately lit the way towards greater equality for the
entire nation. This piece is, therefore, titled “Candlelight” to
express Dr. King’s legacy.

The
melody attempts to express the equality of all men and women through
its harmonious sounds, while the vertical harmony of the
accompaniment is structured as a dissonant chord, composed using the
homophonic texture. We may have heard the phrase “The night is
darkest before the dawn.” The interaction between the harmonious
melody and inharmonic accompaniment represents the struggle and
darkness that faced Dr. King and his followers during the Civil
Rights Movement. Yet the piece concludes by reaching an overall
harmony. This ultimate harmony represents not only the achievements
of Dr. King’s vision, but also this composer’s hope that the
advances in civil rights we enjoy today continue to strive so that
Dr. King’s vision of equality for African-Americans extends to
equality for all minority groups.

I am sharing with you a
letter of inquiry that Allison Shirk, our grant writer, just sent to the
Delmas Foundation over my signature. Allison in short, crisp language
captured the essence of what BlackPast.org is about. This is what we do
and why we do it. That’s why I want you to see her letter.

Quintard

July 25, 2013

Ms. Rachel Kimber, Foundation
Administrator

Delmas Foundation

275 Madison Ave., 33rd Fl.

New York, NY 10016-1101

Dear Ms. Kimber:

Every year in
February, teachers spotlight the contributions to our country made by
African Americans. Yet at the same time, many legitimately question
whether Black History Month is yet another form of segregation. Why
set aside a month to teach a subject that should be incorporated into
the curriculum all year long? Although textbooks are improving in
their inclusion of under-represented groups, African American history
is still largely neglected in American history.

BlackPast.org is
a major attempt to address that need. At more than 10,000 pages,
it is currently the largest Internet site dedicated exclusively to
African American history. BlackPast.org, a nonprofit organization
founded in 2007, operates with a staff of twelve volunteers and over
500 volunteer contributors from six continents. The mission of
BlackPast.org is to provide the inquisitive public with
comprehensive, reliable, accurate information concerning the history
of African Americans in the United States and people of African
ancestry throughout the rest of the world. Our goal is to make this
information available to an international audience to foster
understanding through this knowledge which in turn will generate
constructive change in society.

BlackPast.org’s
vast array of information includes 3,000 encyclopedia entries, 120
full text primary documents, and over 5,000 books in African American
history including rare texts such as the 1927 publication, Who’s
Who in Religious, Fraternal, Social, Civic, and Commercial Life on
the Pacific Coast. BlackPast.org also has full text primary
documents and major speeches of black activists and leaders from the
18th Century to the present. There are links to hundreds of websites
that address the global history of people of African ancestry
including major black museums, newspapers, magazines, and archival
research centers in the United States and Canada. Our most recent
addition is a list of more than 100 state or nationally recognized
landmarks or monuments reflecting African American history. In every
category listed above and many more that are not included,
BlackPast.org is the most comprehensive repository of information
available on the Internet today.

BlackPast.org has
received awards and distinctions for which we are very proud,
including: the Charles Payton Award for Heritage Advocacy from the
Association of King County Historical Organizations, 2011; Best Free
Reference Websites for 2011 by the American Library Association; Best
Hybrid Print and Electronic Resources by the New York Public Library,
2009; and was featured on American Historical Association's website,
2007. On April 2, 2010, BlackPast.org became one of a select group of
websites archived by the Library of Congress. Our most important
distinction is the growth of our global audience. In 2012, just
under three million people from more than 120 nations visited the
pages of BlackPast.org.

We are writing to respectfully request your consideration of a
grant of $10,000 to provide operating support for BlackPast.org.
This funding would be used during fiscal year 2013. We are currently
operating on a conservative budget made possible by the time and
talents of hundreds of volunteers, and we are actively and
strategically building organizational capacity to preserve and
sustain this resource beyond its present status. Our organizational
budget for 2013 is $79,345. We have received funding from the
following foundations this year to date: 4Culture $9,060; Seattle
Foundation\ GiveBIG Campaign $8,085; Starbucks Company $1,000; Wyman
Youth Trust $8,000; Walt & Rita Braithwaite Family Foundation
$1,000.

The goal of this
project is to build organizational capacity for BlackPast.org to
preserve, disseminate, and integrate African American history. The
following objectives are practical steps to further the mission of
BlackPast.org: 1) To seek out and digitally archive new and existing
information on African American history; and 2) To continually update
and incorporate interactive components into the website to facilitate
learning; and 3) To build organizational capacity including board
recruitment and development, diversifying revenue to provide greater
financial stability, and completing a five-year strategic plan.

Our long term goal
(2-3 years) is to upgrade from the current software - Drupal 5 to the
latest version, Drupal 7. Drupal is an open source content management
platform used to host the data on our website. In order to upgrade
the software, a four step process is needed: Planning, Preparing the
current site for upgrade, Upgrading, and Testing, with each step
including a lengthy process of checks and balances to ensure success.

If you have any
questions, please contact me at 206-985-8553 or
quintardjr@comcast.net. I realize that you receive hundreds, if not
thousands of grant applications, so with all sincerity, thank you
very much for your time and consideration. We are aware of your
particular interest in Venice and have chosen the excerpt in the box
to the right as an example from our website. We hope you can help us.

It’s time to explore the world’s only year-round, professional ensemble
re-creating “America’s Original Music.” The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra
will fill the Centenary Stage this summer with the syncopated sounds of
early musical theater, silent cinema, and classic dance rhythms.
Centenary Stage Company’s Jammin’ in July Summer Concert Series will
continue on July 27 at 8 p.m. at the Sitnik Theatre in the David and
Carol Lackland Center with the world-famous Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.

...

Tickets for The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra on Saturday, July 27, at 8
p.m. range from $20 to $27.50 in advance and $25 to $32.50 for day of
purchases, with discounts for seniors, students, and children under 12.

The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra is part of Centenary Stage Company’s
Jammin’ in July Summer Concert Series, which will also include An
Evening With Groucho, Masters of Motown, and New Jersey Youth Theatre’s
Production of West Side Story with a Flex Pass available to all four
events at $90 per person.

Performers from around the world will entertain people in the Triad for six days and nights.

Winston-Salem will host the National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF)
July 29-August 3. During the week, more than 100 shows will be
performed across the city. Tickets are now on sale and range between $8
and $45. Executive Producer, Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, is the wife of the
festival's founder, the late Larry Leon Hamlin. She says this biennial
event has a strong economic impact on Winston-Salem because it attracts
thousands of people from across the country to the city, and all of them
spend money staying in the hotels, eating at restaurants, renting cars
and shopping. "In 2011, we had an economic impact of nearly $10
million," says Sprinkle-Hamlin. "Also, we love having the festival in
Winston-Salem because it is The City of the Arts. So
we’re bringing great, professional theater to this community. These
shows deal with the real challenges of life in ways people of all
racial, economic and personal background will be able to relate to.”
Artistic Director Mabel Robinson agrees. “It’s important we bring in
from around the world artists, technicians, singers and dancers,
directors and playwrights here so they can appreciate their similarities
and differences to create unique experiences that audiences will
remember for a lifetime,” explains Robinson. “The festival is a vehicle
to a reunion of spirit that I believe Winston-Salem is open to
receiving.”

A star-studded gala will kick off the biennial event at
the M.C. Benton Convention Center. It will be followed by the opening
show, The Eve of Jackie: A Tribute to Jackie Wilson. Broadway dancer, singer and performer, Chester Gregory, returns
with a portrayal of this American musical icon whose career spanned the
late 1950's through 1975. "This is the last full concert Wilson did
before his career abruptly ends," says Gregory. "And during it, he
reveals some very personal things." Gregory debuted on the NBTF stage in
2001 and he says it’s very special to him. "In 2001, we got to headline
the festival with The Jackie Wilson Story. It was an awesome experience
and I got a chance to meet the incredible Larry Leon Hamlin,” explains
Gregory. “One night, he (Hamlin) spoke a powerful word into my life.
Hamlin said, 'In 2003 you won’t be able to come to the festival because
you’ll be on Broadway.' That was true, because in 2003 I was cast in
Hair Spray on Broadway in the role of Sea Weed.” Gregory performed in
that show for 2 1/2 years. The show he’s bringing to Winston-Salem will
run in the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Steven’s
Center for five nights.

From director T.C. Johnstone and told by Forest Whitaker comes RISING FROM ASHES, which
will have its worldwide theatrical premiere on August 2 in New York and Los Angeles.

In RISING FROM ASHES, two worlds collide when cycling legend Jock Boyer
moves to Rwanda to help the
first Rwandan National Cycling Team in their six year journey to compete
in the Olympic Games in London. Setting out against impossible odds
both Jock
and the team find new purpose as they rise from the ashes of their past.

Executive produced and narrated by Forest Whitaker,
this stunningly shot film follows Jock (the first American to compete in
the Tour
de France) and his Rwandan riders as they slowly but steadily learn what
it means to be a professional cyclist - how to train, how to compete,
how to
live the life of a top level athlete. As they get better and better, the
riders of Team Rwanda give their countrymen a vision of
something greater than themselves and their history: hope for a future.

In Rwanda, ‘The Land of a Thousand Hills’, the bicycle is essential to
life. It is how you move. It is how you work. And during the
Genocide, it is how you survived. Stand on any corner of any village
throughout the country, and farmers will scream down hillsides barefoot
on 25
year old bikes loaded with 100 pounds of potatoes, taxi drivers peddle
diligently with a mother and daughter in tow, and a child amuses himself
for
hours guiding a bent wheel down alleyways. It seems natural that bike
racing has a rich history in Rwanda. For decades the country has
participated in
the sport, hosting local races for bragging rights, riding barefoot,
many times without brakes or gears. During 100 days in 1994, as Rwandans
were
systematically murdered, thousands escaped certain death on their bikes.
When the dust settled and the perpetrators were subdued, the country
mourned
the death of nearly one million of their countrymen. Amidst the
heartache and trauma, a committed group of young cyclists began
importing racing bikes
into the country with the hopes of resurrecting the sport. In 2005,
legendary bike builder Tom Ritchey explored the country
on his
bike, and upon meeting a group of cyclists who called themselves Team
Rwanda, left with the vision there was potential for a National Team,
and a
question. What if they could make it to the Olympics?

Jock
Boyer isone of America’s most fabled cyclists. He grew up
battling Tom Ritchey in Northern California’s competitive cycling
leagues, out of this rivalry a mutual admiration and friendship was
born. At the age of 17, Jock left the U.S. to compete professionally
against the
World’s elite in France, and in 1981 he made history as the First
American to ever ride in the Tour de France. Upon his return to the
United
States, after a prolific racing career, he would lose it all. In this
period of darkness Tom reconnected with his long lost friend with an
unlikely
proposition, an offer to become the Coach of Rwanda’s first National
Cycling Team.

The star of Team Rwanda is Adrien Niyonshuti.
Adrien lost 60 family members in the Genocide, including six brothers
and his mother’s entire line of heritage. Maybe because he sought
purpose behind his pain, maybe he just had a gift, but Adrien started
cycling.
In 2006, he rode a mountain bike for the first time -- catching Jock and
winning a local race, which forged the beginning of a relationship
between
two broken men. In 2011, Adrien qualified for the Olympic Games, a bold
achievement that would send shockwaves throughout Rwanda, a living
example
that the ghosts and demons of our past have no power over our future.

RISING FROM ASHES wasproduced by two partnering non-profit’s, Gratis 7 Media Group and Project Rwanda. They in turn support
Team Rwanda.

Team Rwanda started out as a cycling organization however
they quickly learned they had to care for the greater needs of each
athlete. Many of the riders could not read or write, lived in homes
without fresh
drinking water, were malnourished, and had never received healthcare.
But there was still a greater issue, the issues of the heart. These
riders were
all recovering from the traumatic psychological effects of the 1994
genocide. Team Rwanda had to look deeper.

Team Rwanda has not solved all of these problems but it is making a difference.

-
Riders are provided a modest salary to help provide for
themselves
and their families.

- Riders are given English lessons and taught how to read
and write.

-
Health care is provided for the ongoing issues of malaria
and
water-borne diseases.

- When funds are available, the riders are given
regular health checks and dental care.

While the team has taken care of
the physical and mental issues it has provided something greater: Hope.

Rwanda is a country recovering from one of the world’s most devastating
genocides and they have longed for heroes. The riders of Team Rwanda
have become more than just a cycling team; they have become ambassadors
of hope and men to look up to. They have given the country a vision of
something greater then themselves and a renewed sense of purpose.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKER

T.C. Johnstone (Director
/ Producer / Editor) began making
films in Steamboat Springs over 10 years ago. After producing his first
feature he moved to California and began working as a DP and documentary
director on a wide variety of projects ranging from national television
(ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Discovery) to independent films. He currently
focuses on
independent documentary feature films.

Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History
The University of Washington, Seattle

Prof. Quintard Taylor writes:

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

I
need your help. Our BlackPast.org team has put together a survey to
help determine the future direction of the website. If you wouldn’t
mind, could you please take five minutes to complete this survey?
Participating is easy: simply visit BlackPast.org (www.blackpast.org) and click on the Survey Banner located at the top of any page on the site.

BlackPast.org
is now over seven years old and is in serious need of both a
technological and design upgrade. By being brutally honest with us,
describing what you like and don’t like about the website, we’ll have a
clear roadmap for improving this 10,000 page resource. Your assessment
will help us chart the future for this global resource now accessed by
nearly three million visitors each year. We appreciate your perspective
as we work to provide the best learning tool possible.

By the way, a $100 gift certificate will be awarded to one lucky survey participant, but we hope you will complete the survey regardless because we want to know how you feel about the website itself.

The Catskill High
Peaks Festival (Artistic Director, Yehuda Hanani) is a performing and teaching
summer institute bringing together renowned musicians, pedagogues and
exceptionally gifted international students. It is held in the majestic Northern
Catskill Mountains, surrounded by the iconic scenery – mountain peaks, water
falls and charming hamlets – that inspired the Hudson
River painters, and that continues to inspire generations of
artists, musicians and writers. The
intimate scale and highest level of talent make possible an invigorating ten
days of discovery, exploration, bonding, and growth.

First
recipient of the Jerome Wright Scholarship

Pianist Mikael Darmanie began his music studies
at age 12 in Trinidad and
Tobago. Mikael continued his studies as a
student of Clifton Matthews at the University of North Carolina School of the
Arts where he received his Bachelor of Music. He went on to receive his
Master of Music and an Artist Diploma at the University of Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of
Awadagin Pratt. In the fall he is beginning his doctoral studies with pianist
Gilbert Kalish in New
York.

Mr. Darmanie
has performed throughout the United
States, France, Switzerland, Germany and the Caribbean. As a soloist, he has won first prize in a
number of competitions, including the Southeastern Regional Piano Competition,
Bearcat Festival Chopin Competition, Eurterpe Scholarship Competition, and the
North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs Competition. He also won Second
Prize in the North Carolina MTNA Solo Piano Competition and was a Laureate at
the New York Chopin Competition. He has performed at several festivals,
including Pianofest in the Hamptons, Art of Piano
Festival, and L'Acadèmie de Musique de Sion (Switzerland).
Mr. Darmanie has also recently performed in Master Classes for Leon
Fleisher, Paul Schenly, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Jerome Lowenthal, Joseph
Kalichstein, and Menahem Pressler.

A versatile
musician, Mr. Darmanie is equally adept as a soloist and chamber musician.
As a member of the Transverse Trio, he won First Prize in the North
Carolina MTNA Chamber Music Competition. He has performed at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music as part of the
Apple Hill Fellowship Trio. In 2010, he performed in unique programs of
Brazilian and French music for violin and piano at Lincoln Center Institute's
Kenan Fellowship performance series. In 2012, Mikael performed on the Taft
Museum of Art Chamber Music Series (Cincinnati) with members of the Cincinnati
Symphony. He is a Graduate Assistant under the direction of Sandra Rivers
at CCM, and works as a collaborative pianist performing a wide variety of
repertoire.

Mr. Darmanie studied
conducting with Serge Zehnacker, Robert Moody, and Ransom Wilson. He has given
performances in North Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio conducting various piano concerti from
the keyboard and has also conducted symphonic works by Bach, Brahms, Beethoven,
Haydn and Liszt. He has composed a handful of works, primarily for piano,
and has performed his music throughout the United
States and Western
Europe.

Reston
— When Dr. Thomas Wilkins moved to Reston in 1969, he said he did so
because it was “an island of equality in a sea of inequality.” Wilkins
passed away Saturday, July 20 at the age of 83, having spent 44 years
trying to make Reston a stronger community.

“I’m
a Restonian,” Wilkins said in 2005, while discussing Reston’s history
of inclusiveness for people of all races. “I’m fighting for what will
make our community, not one of the best, but the best community in the
United States."

He
served in the Army, and graduated from Saint Paul’s College before
spending a number of years working for the Department of Labor. Later,
he was a staff member to Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Tom
Davis, who would go on to become a congressman.

More recently, he worked with Warren Thompson of Thompson Hospitality, who runs American Tap Room in Reston.

Tammi
Petrine, a member of the Reston Citizens Association, remembered
Wilkins fondly as the man who officiated the wedding of her son and
daughter-in-law at her home in Reston. She remembers the special bond
Wilkins formed with their then three-year-old grandson Robbie.

“Quite
a beautiful pair they made; the very tall, distinguished gentleman and a
very short, curly haired nymph. Throughout the evening, Dr. Wilkins’
kindness never waived as his little shadow followed him step for step.
At the end of the evening when Tom walked outside to leave, Robbie raced
after him to bestow a big hug and kiss for his new friend,” she said.
“The cliché that small children are the best judges of fine character
certainly held true on this magical night as our family's seminal event
was enriched by the charms of a great man whose life was dedicated to
improving this very complex world.”

Carol
Ann Bradley, past chair of the Reston Community Center and former
principal of Terraset Elementary School, said Wilkins was one of the
first people she met when she moved to Reston 40 years ago. “I will
always remember Tom first and foremost as a loving father and husband,”
she said. “The Wilkins home was always a place where my children and I
felt welcome, it was filled with food, fun and family. He was a
wonderful, caring friend who was always excited to help others.”

WILKINS WAS RECOGNIZED for his propensity to help others in 1997, when he was recognized as Best of Reston during the annual awards ceremony.

One of the most lasting parts of his legacy is the Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Foundation, which he helped found in 1999.

“He
founded the Martin Luther King Jr. Cultural Foundation as a member of
the Martin Luther King Christian Church, with the idea that the church
would organize it, incorporate it and eventually turn it over to the
community, which is what happened,” said Roger Lewis, a member of the
foundation. “His vision was that the needs of the community wouldn’t be
met by just a faith-based organization, but with the efforts of the
whole community.”

The pianist Waka Hasegawa has recorded piano works of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor on the Metropolis Group label, with a scheduled release date of July 30, 2013. Retailers accepting advance orders include ArkivMusi and Amazon.com.

Amazon.com

"Waka
Hasegawa established a successful career as part of the
internationally acclaimed piano duo 'Piano 4 Hands' (with British
pianist Joseph Tong), and as a much sought-after soloist."

announces
its Fourth Season under the director of Dr. Sandra I. Noriega.The OPC
Symphony Orchestra offers Bay Area musicians the unique opportunity to
perform the rarely heard works of African-American, and other ethnically
under-represented composers, in addition to standard repertoire.

Winner
of the 2010 Alabama Orchestra Association Composition Competition, by
local Bay Area composer, Daniel Leo Simpson. Simpson is described as an
American Composer with a flair for creating "contagious" and engaging
music, and specializes in unusual, interesting and dynamic works of
every genre. From concerti and symphonies to commercials and film music,
he is distinguishing himself as unique in his field.

Tuscaloosa Tango is written in the form of a DOUBLE fugue - very interesting!

Capriccio Espagñol

by
Russian composer, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, who initially planned this
piece as a fantasy for violin and orchestra but eventually decided on a
purely orchestral scoring. Korsakov possessed an exceptional knowledge
of the characteristics and capabilities of different instruments, and Capriccio Espagñol
strongly supports his reputation as a master orchestrator.
Rimsky-Korsakov notes this aspect of the work in his autobiography:
"According to my plan, the Capriccio was to glitter with dazzling orchestral color, and clearly I was not mistaken."

Lenox Avenue

by
William Grant Still was originally performed as a CBS radio broadcast
in 1936, and presents a splendid panorama of life in 1930's Harlem. It
was composed as a set of musical vignettes depicting scenes and episodes
one might run into on the central street of New York's Harlem, Lenox
Avenue. Critics described the work as colorful, graphic, insinuating, a
thrilling experience, and exceptionally praiseworthy.An October 31, 1937
review in the Los Angeles Times by Isabel Morse Jones states, "Life
moves fast on the Lenox Avenue of William Grant Still. There is more
real Negro character in it than in all of Porgy and Bess... as it pictures a street in Harlem that is almost human in its personal characteristics."

Incantation and Dance

for
Oboe and Piano by William Grant Still. A professional oboist himself,
enthralled with the beauty of the human voice, his music permeates with
fluid lyricism. In this work, the melody appears as a reflective piano
solo, and the oboe proves the perfect instrument to nurture and develop
its introspective qualities. Though the tempo picks up in the Dance, the mood remains as somber as it is beautiful.

Old California

by
William Grant Still is a symphonic tone poem, that holds thematic charm
by mingling Indian, Spanish and religious motifs, depicting their
influence on the historical development of California as a meeting place
of racial cultures. Critic Richard Saunders of the Hollywood
Citizen-News, 1941, calls it "a work of strong melodic appeal,
magnificently orchestrated, worth a permanent place in orchestral
repertory." A prolonged ovation was accorded William Grant Still after a
fine, initial presentation of this work.